Information Overload and Scaremongering?

Friday 11th of January 2013 | Category: Pregnancy News | Written by: Siobhan Thomas

A recent article on the BBC News website discussed the perils of having too much (often inaccurate) information made available to pregnant women these days. But does this not underestimate our ability as women to accept information cautiously, to sort the facts from the speculation and to put all the guidelines into some sort of perspective?

Ignorance is Bliss

My mum was quite surprised with the amount of information I was armed with regarding the methods of childbirth, the choices of pain relief and all the associated risks and complications that I might encounter. She questioned whether it was a good thing, her presumption being that it made me unnecessarily anxious.

Fortunately I had a straight-forward delivery but I was diagnosed with Group B Streptococcus (GBS) during labour and consequently our daughter was taken away after birth for lumbar puncture tests and then a course of IV antibiotics. Of course it was all very worrying at the time, but I do think it would have been more upsetting if I had never heard of GBS or if I had sailed into the delivery ward believing that all healthy pregnancies resulted in quick, uncomplicated births where you skipped back home within 24 hours.

Of course knowledge can add to your anxiety in some cases, but perhaps this is the necessary evil that you need in order to cope better with the surprises that pregnancy and parenting throw at you?

Don't eat this, do eat that...

In the BBC article, Linda Geddes suggests that the bombardment of health rules and restrictions during pregnancy can leave you feeling 'paralysed' and 'patronised'. For me this wasn't the case. Aren't we all used to the never ending health reports and studies that give us conflicting advice as to whether red wine is good for our hearts but bad for our livers, or that coffee is good for your metabolism but bad for your blood pressure? We're grown adults surrounded with conflicting information. It is part and parcel of our everyday lives to sort the wheat from the chaff and to make sensible choices.

I am glad that I know what foods are best to avoid during pregnancy, but when I inadvertently scoffed a pate filled canape at my uncle's birthday party I didn't descend into a spiral of panic. I understand what risk means, and in the case of eating such foods when pregnant I choose to avoid them because I won't knowingly increase the risk of complications to my pregnancy. But if I find out I've eaten something accidentally then I know that the chances are it won't have done me any harm and I continue life as normal - un-paralysed and un-patronised, but happy to have the knowledge to make sensible decisions.

Does keeping up to date make you obsessed?

It is commonplace these days to accuse people of being 'obsessed' with something, when what they actually mean is that they are interested in it, or that they keep up to date with it as a subject.

A close friend of mine recently mocked today's mothers for being so easily taken in by commercial propaganda. He gave the practice of restricting the number of hours that a newborn baby spends in their car seat or rocker as an example. According to him, the idea often bandied around that babies ought not to spend more than 4 hours a day in a car seat or baby rocker for the sake of their backs was laughable rubbish. He suggested that this was nothing but media hype instigated by the manufacturers of expensive baby accessories to make sure that you spent as much money as possible on various types of kit and contraptions - in particular that you buy both a normal buggy or pram and a bassinette attachment to enable the baby to lie flat for the first 3-6 months of their lives. OK, he has a point. I had gone with this guidance without questioning it, but to be honest it was easier to go with it than to find the time to research it further, it cost me the price of a bassinette and I guess a little extra effort in moving my babies from car seats to cots or prams when they were sleeping, but it wasn't difficult! It's a balanced decision that you make for yourself. In my case it was easier to go with it than spend time finding out otherwise, what's more, I hadn't heard any reports of restricting time in their car seats to be bad for their health. I didn't worry about it, I didn't count the hours and I most certainly didn't judge others who used their car seats all the time.

Put your sensible hat on and get on with it!

The point is, it is possible to lie somewhere in between those who are scared silly by every health related headline in the tabloids and those who live by the motto 'if you listened to all these claims you wouldn't leave the house, therefore I take on board none of them'. Keep in mind current health advice and practice it as much as you can, but if it is difficult or gives you any concerns then question it further, ask your GP or midwife, do some more reading! Quite simply, use your common sense and be grateful that you live in an age where we have the benefit of medical science to help us make informed decisions.